This invention relates to a process of forming ornamental joints on a sheet flooring material stuck to a floor base.
Part of the floor surface with the hitherto known ornamental joints is shown in FIG. 1, wherein reference numeral 1 denotes a flooring material comprising square tiles (regular square tiles in the drawing) and an ornamental joint 2 are formed between these flooring materials.
The processes of forming aforesaid joints 2 are partly shown in FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C. Explanation will be made thereon.
In these figures, reference numeral 3 denotes a floor base. On the surface of said floor base there are depicted standard lines 4 and 5 for use in laminating the flooring material, said standard lines comprising vertical and horizontal lines which form plural square sections 6, said square section having a width whose length is the total of the width L of the flooring material 1 and the width L' of the joint 2, and then on the surface of the standard lines there is applied transparent adhesive.
In succession, the flooring material 1 is put on the surface of the adhesive 7 and the upper portion of the section 6 so that crossing two sides 8 and 9 of the flooring material 1 may coincide with standard lines 4 and 5 respectively, and is stuck. Next, spacers 12 and 13 having the width L' are disposed in a space on the surface of the adhesive 7 formed between the other crossing two sides of the thus stuck flooring material 1 and the standard lines 4 and 5 (FIG. 2A and 2B).
Thereafter, the same procedure as this is repeated successively, and before the spacers 12 and 13 are fixed by the adhesive, the spacers 12 and 13 are stripped off to thereby form a joint-forming grooved portion between the respective flooring materials 1. Then, masking tapes 15 are arranged along both side edges of this material 1, so as to adhere to the surface of the flooring material 1, the grooved portion is charged with a joint material 14 (FIG. 2C), and thereafter the masking tape 15 is stripped, thereby obtaining a floor surface as shown in FIG. 1.
By providing the ornamental joint 2 like this, there is caused possibility of finishing the floor surface in the mode of marble or brick and obtaining the floor surface with an utterly different sense even when using the same flooring material. Therefore, the provision of ornamental joints is advantageous in achieving extremely superior design effects.
However, the conventional process of forming the above mentioned floor surfaces include various drawbacks as shown below:
(1) Since the flooring material 1 used therein is a square tile whose vertical and horizontal dimensions are uniform, the ornamental joint patterns are limited to specific ones and it is difficult to form complicated joint patterns. In other words, in the case of intending to change ornamental joint patterns by changing the vertical and horizontal dimensions inherent in the flooring materials used, it is necessary to cut off or add part of the flooring materials. Due to this, the operation becomes complicated and takes a long time, further the external appearance of the flooring materials is spoiled because in addition to the ornamental joint there is formed an unnecessary joint at the added portion,
(2) Next, the conventional process necessitates spacers 12 and 13 as described above. Further, it is required to prepare spacers having various dimensions well-fitting to the length and width of each ornamental joint. Therefore, it is not only expensive but also complicates the operation including selection-working of spacers and the like. Still further, since the adhesive attaches to the spacers when removed, it is necessary to remove the adhesive therefrom, and in addition since there is the possibility of this attached adhesive staining the flooring materials, it is necessary to pay close attention in order to prevent the occurrence of such trouble, and
(3) Lastly, this process, as described above, uses fixed-formed and independently separated flooring materials, and so is unable to use a sheet flooring material which is indefinite-formed and independently non-separated.